Teh interesting (non-PHL-related) news stub thread

[Twin-Skies]

Brazilian government to ban Wordpress.com?

In a move similar to Youtube’s block, a brazilian judge ordered all brazilians ISPs to block a Wordpress.com blog. The blog and the reason of the block are still unknow…

According to Abranet, the Brazilian Association of Internet Providers, there’s about 1 million brazilians blogs hosted in Wordpress.com.

The order to block wordpress.com was sent to Abranet who sent it to all associated ISPs. In an interview, Eduardo Parajo, Abranet’s president said: “We must not discuss a court order, we must obey it. Since it’s not possible to block only the blog’s address, all the acces to any wordpress.com sites will be forbidden in Brazil”.

According to Alexa, Wordpress.com ranks the 27th position in Brazil’s most accessed pages.

The decision to block wordpress.com came from the judge Maury Ângelo Bottesini, last month…

Most disturbing; A good deal of the blogs in Brazil speak openly about government corruption.

As for that bit about Brazil's attempts to ban youtube, it's apparently got something to do with a sex video involving model/MTV host Daniela Cicarelli, who was caught on footage by the paparazzi getting nasty with her boyfriend. She was previously married to soccer superstar Ronaldo Luis Nazário de Lima. The video was subsequently uploaded to Youtube, with Cicarelli attempting to sue the site last December. As a result, to quote the wiki entry -

...the Supreme Court ordered the site to find a way to permanently block the video from being uploaded on its servers, to shut down their site until such a block can be realized, or to face an order imposed upon Brazilian Internet service providers to block access to YouTube.

The block was implemented for a short while, but was retracted a few days later.

Thank God - at least our own celebirties don't ever seem to have the stones (or is it brains?) to go this far to cover up their own scandals.

[maitreya]

Why Beautiful Women Marry Less Attractive Men

[HayWire]

China to use heavy artillery on rainclouds for Beijing Olympics

BEIJING (Reuters) - China is preparing an arsenal of rockets and aircraft to protect the Olympics opening ceremony from rain, hoping to disperse clouds before they can drench dignitaries at the roofless "bird's nest" stadium.

Officials believe there is a 47 percent probability of rain during the August 8 opening ceremony and a 6 percent chance of a heavy downpour and will try to drain humidity from clouds before they reach Beijing.

More than 100 staff at 21 stations surrounding the city will have 10 minutes' notice to fire rockets or cannons containing silver iodide at approaching clouds in the hope of making them rain before they reach the stadium. Three aircraft will also be on stand-by to drop catalysts to unleash rain from the clouds.

In Soviet China, parade rains on clouds!

...With flak

[Twin-Skies]

China to use heavy artillery on rainclouds for Beijing Olympics

BEIJING (Reuters) - China is preparing an arsenal of rockets and aircraft to protect the Olympics opening ceremony from rain, hoping to disperse clouds before they can drench dignitaries at the roofless "bird's nest" stadium.

Officials believe there is a 47 percent probability of rain during the August 8 opening ceremony and a 6 percent chance of a heavy downpour and will try to drain humidity from clouds before they reach Beijing.

More than 100 staff at 21 stations surrounding the city will have 10 minutes' notice to fire rockets or cannons containing silver iodide at approaching clouds in the hope of making them rain before they reach the stadium. Three aircraft will also be on stand-by to drop catalysts to unleash rain from the clouds.

In Soviet China, parade rains on clouds!

...With flak

Not again...Sis forgot to log out her account...

That's my post.

[NiX]

Hahah that really made me LOL. It's like shooting clouds with GL or something.

[Grim]

No worries Antonio. We know when it's you who posted, or when it's HayWire.

[Fox]

Saw this one earlier.

Associated Press
Apr 24 06:15 PM US/Eastern

Study says near extinction threatened people
By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID
AP Science Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Human beings may have had a brush with extinction 70,000 years ago, an extensive genetic study suggests. The human population at that time was reduced to small isolated groups in Africa, apparently because of drought, according to an analysis released Thursday.

The report notes that a separate study by researchers at Stanford University estimated the number of early humans may have shrunk as low as 2,000 before numbers began to expand again in the early Stone Age.

"This study illustrates the extraordinary power of genetics to reveal insights into some of the key events in our species' history," Spencer Wells, National Geographic Society explorer in residence, said in a statement. "Tiny bands of early humans, forced apart by harsh environmental conditions, coming back from the brink to reunite and populate the world. Truly an epic drama, written in our DNA."

Wells is director of the Genographic Project, launched in 2005 to study anthropology using genetics. The report was published in the American Journal of Human Genetics.

Previous studies using mitochondrial DNA-which is passed down through mothers-have traced modern humans to a single "mitochondrial Eve," who lived in Africa about 200,000 years ago.

The migrations of humans out of Africa to populate the rest of the world appear to have begun about 60,000 years ago, but little has been known about humans between Eve and that dispersal.

The new study looks at the mitochondrial DNA of the Khoi and San people in South Africa which appear to have diverged from other people between 90,000 and 150,000 years ago.

The researchers led by Doron Behar of Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, Israel and Saharon Rosset of IBM T.J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, N.Y., and Tel Aviv University concluded that humans separated into small populations prior to the Stone Age, when they came back together and began to increase in numbers and spread to other areas.

Eastern Africa experienced a series of severe droughts between 135,000 and 90,000 years ago and the researchers said this climatological shift may have contributed to the population changes, dividing into small, isolated groups which developed independently.

Paleontologist Meave Leakey, a Genographic adviser, commented: "Who would have thought that as recently as 70,000 years ago, extremes of climate had reduced our population to such small numbers that we were on the very edge of extinction."

Today more than 6.6 billion people inhabit the globe, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Guess we should consider ourselves lucky then.

[Shintetsu]

Lucky. Yeah right. I mean, living under poverty due to overpopulation isn't lucky.

Mitochonndrial Eve... Mmm... Parasite Eve anyone?

[Sforza]

Lawyer files criminal raps vs Pope, Cardinal Rosales
‘Disturbance of order, swindling, immorality’

Elly Pamatong claimed the Pope and Rosales "have been arrogantly, oppressively and offensively mounting loudspeakers on church rooftops, towers, belfries and trees that are blaring with monotonous false dogmas and doctrines."

"They have been disturbing the peace and quiet of non-Catholics throughout the country," he said in his complaint.

Among others things, Pamatong wants the court to rule that those who will not respect the rights of non-Catholics to live in peace "be deported to the Vatican and forever barred from entering the country."

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnew...al-Rosales

Yup! Deport Cardinal Rosales! Go Go Go!!

[Shintetsu]

EXCELLENT WORK, Mr. PAMATONG!

True enough, there are a LOT(excuse me for my inexcusable prejudice) of questionable facts, false dogmas, false facts, and misleading teachings coming from the Roman Catholic community.

Again, sorry to the hard-boiled catholics who may be reading this (I know a few).

Hey, I think I've heard his name somewhere in the news before.

[Sforza]

EXCELLENT WORK, Mr. PAMATONG!

True enough, there are a LOT(excuse me for my inexcusable prejudice) of questionable facts, false dogmas, false facts, and misleading teachings coming from the Roman Catholic community.

Again, sorry to the hard-boiled catholics who may be reading this (I know a few).

Hey, I think I've heard his name somewhere in the news before.

Pamatong gained notoriety for his pro-US rallies and for disrupting traffic in Metro Manila by placing spikes on the road. His nickname is "spike boy".

He tried to join the presidential elections in 2004 but the Comelec threw out his bid and declared him a nuisance candidate.

He tried to join the Pampangga governorship elections won by Fr. Panlilo (now that's a good priest), but I think his bid was thrown out too.

[Twin-Skies]

EXCELLENT WORK, Mr. PAMATONG!

True enough, there are a LOT(excuse me for my inexcusable prejudice) of questionable facts, false dogmas, false facts, and misleading teachings coming from the Roman Catholic community.

Again, sorry to the hard-boiled catholics who may be reading this (I know a few).

Hey, I think I've heard his name somewhere in the news before.

Pamatong gained notoriety for his pro-US rallies and for disrupting traffic in Metro Manila by placing spikes on the road. His nickname is "spike boy".

He tried to join the presidential elections in 2004 but the Comelec threw out his bid and declared him a nuisance candidate.

He tried to join the Pampangga governorship elections won by Fr. Panlilo (now that's a good priest), but I think his bid was thrown out too.

Regarding Pamatong, Pope Palpa---err---Benedict XVI, and Rosales...

Kettle, meet Pot.

While Pamatong's at it, why doesn't he also file lawsuits against Jeepneys, open-air videoke bars, and certain malls? Surely someone with his good taste would have noticed that the noise they're passing off as songs are just as assailing on our eardrums.

@Shintetsu

Indeed - One think I hate about Philippine Catholicism is how retardedly backward it can be. Yeesh - I remember a protest that once popped up among the Catholic fundies regarding the implementation of sex education in public schools.

It's like telling me that all this reading I do on firearms will make me a killer. Ignorance does not result in responsible living.

If anything, I consider this more reason to brush up on my theology. The Jesuits do good work.

[maitreya]

Kraft Reformulates Oreo, Scores in China

[Sforza]

THERE IS NO HOPE FOR THIS COUNTRY. BLARG.
I'm really annoyed because I love sizzling sisig!! I mean, what the hell?! She's 80!! And she cooks with love!!

Missing Aling Lucing, the 'Sisig Queen' - Inquirer

Three days after she was murdered on April 17, there is yearning for Lucia Cunanan.

“Hinahanap siya ng mga suki niya. Sinasabi ko kung ano ang nangyari. Nalulungkot sila (Her regular clients were looking for her, and I would tell them about the incident. They’re sad),” said Ruby Rosa Sususco, daughter of Natividad “Naty” Bernardo, a younger contemporary of Cunanan in the sisig-making business and stall neighbor in Angeles City.

It’s Friday night and almost every eatery in Crossing, a commercial strip along the abandoned railroad tracks in Angeles, occupies half of the street, serving grilled food al fresco – except for Cunanan’s.

The lights in her stall are out, dimming a proud legacy. “Aling Lucing, Home of the Original Sisig,” two sooty billboards proclaim. A small tarpaulin hangs, detailing where the funeral services were to be held.

Day in and day out for 34 years, Cunanan had held court in this unpretentious corner, perfecting the dish that had become her trademark and which had evolved into a virtual “pambansang pulutan” (national bar chow).

“She put the lowly sisig on the culinary map. Kapampangans can eat anywhere provided the food is good. Aling Lucing, whose eatery is near the railroad tracks, started that,” said Robby Tantingco, executive director of the Holy Angel University’s Center for Kapampangan Studies.

How the 80-year-old Cunanan was murdered – her body had 10 stab wounds, according to police – was undeserving for this culinary legend, said Tantingco.

[Grim]

Christ. It's like, a hate crime or something. Pati lola pinatulan, ano ba yan.

Kraft Reformulates Oreo, Scores in China

I just read this now, interesting read. I wonder kind of reformulation we can do with our least popular exports...